This is the sin against the Holy Ghost: -- To speak of bloody power at right divine, And call on God to guard each vile chief's house, And for such chiefs, turn men to wolves and swine: -- To go forth killing in White Mercy's name, Making the trenches stink with spattered brains, Tearing the nerves and arteries apart, Sowing with flesh the unreaped golden plains. In any Church's name, to sack fair towns, And turn each home into a screaming sty, To make little children fugitive, And have their mothers for a quick death cry, -- This is the sin against the Holy Ghost: This is the sin no purging can atone: -- To send forth rapine in the name of Christ: -- To set the face and make the heart a stone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARTHY VIRGINIA'S HAND [SEPTEMBER 17, 1862] by GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP ON THE SOUL by PUBLIUS AELIUS HADRIANUS THE PRINCESS: SONG by ALFRED TENNYSON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (DEDICATED TO MISS ELLA F. KENNEDY) by SARA S. BASHEFKIN SILVIO'S COMPLAINT: A SONG, TO A FINE SCOTCH TUNE by APHRA BEHN |